There's a Price for Freedom
by AsgardainAvenger
Summary: Bucky Barnes is a member of the 107 Infantry Regiment during World War II. He partook in many dangerous missions, one of which almost cost him his life. WARNING: CONTAINS SOME THEMES FROM WORLD WAR TWO AND THE HORRORS THAT WERE CONCENTRATION CAMPS. DON'T READ IF CAUSES TRIGGERS.


**I was busy with my other story (coming soon, I promise), and I hadn't uploaded anything for a while; so here's this quick one-shot that I typed in an hour or so. Everything was written on my phone, since I don't have a computer. I apologize for the wait and any mistakes in the story.**

 **WARNING: CONTAINS SOME THEMES FROM WORLD WAR TWO AND CONCERTATION CAMPS. DO NOT READ AS IT MAY CAUSE TRIGGERS.**

 **There's a Price For Freedom**

 **1943**

Bucky Barnes was leaning against the ship's railing, trying to hold in his lunch. He didn't get seasick; he just wasn't used to the continuous pitching motion of the ocean's waves.

Bucky stared off into the distance. There was nothing but water for miles around. He knew that they had to be getting close to land, since the ship ride was six hours long, and five had already passed.

He was on a mission with Steve and the Howling Commandos. Apparently some spies had found a concentration camp, and Captain America and his 'friends' were supposed to check it out.

"The view hasn't changed much since the last hour," Steve's voice shook Bucky from his thoughts. He turned to find his tall, blonde friend leaning against the railing beside him. Bucky was still getting used to Steve's change after the Super-Soldier Serum. Despite being able to look at Steve at eye-level, Bucky was still a year older and thought of Steve as another little brother.

Bucky shrugged tiredly. "Does it ever get old? It's a nice view. Maybe you draw a picture, make it last longer," Bucky joked.

Steve smiled, flashing his perfectly straight, pearly-white teeth. "Yeah, maybe."

"Hey," a deep voice cut off their conversation. Both men turned to see Dum-Dum Dugan watching them. "We land in less than an hour. I'd get ready if I were you." Dugan then left below deck.

"Sounds like a good idea," Steve said. Bucky nodded in response and followed his friend to their sleeping quarters to get ready.

The two checked that their guns were full of ammunition and their walkie-talkies were working. Bucky pulled on a dark blue jacket, but decided to ditch his helmet. Steve slung his shield over his back and tucked a pistol into a side holster.

"Hey, Steve?" Bucky asked quietly. Steve looked up from where he was making sure his boots were tightly tied. "What are the chances this is a trap?"

Steve was slightly taken aback. "A trap? Why?"

Bucky shrugged. "Well, since you became Captain America, Hydra might be finding ways to take you down. You _are_ a huge threat to them, after all."

Steve pursed his lips in thought. It _was_ a reasonable speculation. "The spies said it was only a small concentration camp. It shouldn't be that hard to liberate." Bucky raised an eyebrow. "If anything happens, and if it _is_ a trap, we'll take care of it," Steve added.

That seemed to satisfy Bucky, because he went back to loading his rifle in silence. Steve finished lacing up his boots and stood up. He clapped Bucky on the back and climbed the ladder to the upper deck. Bucky followed once he had everything loaded.

All of the Howling Commandos were standing and talking in a large circle. Steve was walking around and giving out instructions. Bucky smiled at Steve's confidence change. Steve used to be a shy kid who preferred to be drawing in a corner alone, but now he was standing tall and proudly giving orders like a true captain.

"Alright!" Steve shouted, silencing the group. Everybody turned to stand at attention. Steve paused for a minute. He was clearly still getting used to being listened too. "According to several reliable spies, there is a small concentration camp not too far inland from the coast. It is only a small one, but we are here to save as many innocent lives as we can."

The group cheered. Steve continued explaining the situation and laid out the plan. By the time everything was explained, the ship had landed on a beach on Germany and the Howling Commandos were off trudging their way to free wrongfully held prisoners.

Bucky was split off into his own group with Steve, Dum-Dum Dugan, and five other men. The group pushed their way through the thick forest that sat at the top of a hill on the beach. The going was slow, but they eventually made their way out of the forest. A grassy plain stretched out in rolling hills. A dark brown building surrounded by a fence of barbed wire stood at the base of a small hill, just quarter of a mile into the distance.

Steve motioned for everyone to stay hidden in the trees while he made a few adjustments to the plan. They were going to cross the plain once the other three groups made it through forest and completely surround the building. Then they would swarm the building and take out the guards. The military trucks that followed were stuck somewhere in the forest, so they had to do this on foot.

"Is everyone ready?" Steve asked his group and the others on the walkie-talkies at the same time. There were whispered yeses. Steve nodded and all four groups surged forward toward the building. It was a bit of a risky move without the trucks there, but they had the element of surprise and the Nazi camp was outnumbered.

Steve's group was the first one to reach the building. Steve threw his shield, disabling the front gate's locking system. With that out of the way, the soldiers were able to seize control over camp after they rounded up the guards. The trucks finally made it over with medical assistance to those who needed it. There weren't many Howling Commando casualties, the worst was a gunshot in the stomach but the soldier was being taken care of.

Steve glanced around. He didn't see Bucky anywhere, but it was hard to differentiate certain people from the crowd. He was about to ask someone if they had seen Bucky, when the man himself came running across the front driveway towards Steve. He seemed rather desperate for someone who just helped rescue dozens of people.

Bucky skidded to a halt and grabbed Steve's wrist before Steve could say anything, dragging him the same way he came.

Steve pulled his hand free and stopped. "Bucky? What's wrong?" Steve asked.

Bucky stomped his foot impatiently and motioned for Steve to catch up. Steve ran join his friend; Bucky leading the way behind the main building.

"What's wrong, Bucky?" Steve pressed.

"There's a group of people stuck in an underground gas chamber," Bucky explained between breaths. "We can't open it, all the locks have be broken off. We need your strength to open it. They're alive, but Steve, it's still on!"

Steve was shocked. He had heard about gas chambers and what Nazis did to their prisoners. He never would have imagined he would witness the cruel acts first-hand. Steve sprinted the rest of the way there. Bucky, unable to keep up a fast pace, fell behind. He caught up right when Steve was straining to pull open a tightly sealed, metal door.

"Go find a way to turn it off," Steve said to no one in particular. Dum-Dum Dugan, who was standing there in a shocked daze, started checking around the chamber for an off switch or button.

Bucky pressed his hands around the door, looking for a ledge or hole to pry it open. He shook his head in disgust and threw up his hands. "It's completely sealed off!"

Steve stopped pulling and started using his shield as a lever. He pushed it into the dirt in an attempt to loosen the door frame from the bottom. "How long have they been in there?"

"I don't know! It looks like it was just turned on, but it's still too long!" Bucky shouted nervously. He was beginning to be frightened of the Nazis' power and willingness to kill.

The door finally gave way with a little cry of "Aha!" from Steve. He dug away the dirt. There was a hole, barely big enough to fit a large German Shepherd.

"It's too small! How are we going to get them out?" Steve asked. Bucky knelt down beside the hole and ripped off the bottom of his shirt. He tied it around his face as a crude mask and made to step into the hole.

"Bucky! What you doing?!" Steve exclaimed.

"You're too big to fit and they need someone to help them out. I'm sure the gas has made them tired and dizzy," Bucky said firmly, his voice had no room for argument. "Stay here and make the hole bigger so we can get out."

With that Bucky slipped into the dark hole, disappearing from Steve's sight.

As Steve was busy frantically shoveling out dirt with his shield, Bucky was feeling his way across the wall. He almost tripped over a soft body. He knelt down and picked up a little girl, her dirty face streaked with tears. Bucky lifted up to Steve and together the first victim breathed fresh air.

Bucky disappeared back in the hole coming back again and again with more people. Each time he had to go further into the chamber. It was pitch black and the gas made it hard to keep his bearings. Bucky stumbled as the world soon before his eyes. He leaned heavily against the wall, trying hard not to breathe too deeply. The chamber was still on, pumping gallons of poisonous gas into the room every second. He knew that every second he waited could cost a life. Bucky forced himself to continue.

He found a mother holding a baby in the corner. He reached out a hand and she took it. Although she was severely underweight, Bucky had a hard time lifting to her feet. He wrapped an arm around her waist and put her arm around his shoulders. Together they slowly made their way to the much larger hole. Bucky glanced back and did a final scan around the room. There was nobody left but him, the mother, and baby.

Black dots were clouding his vision, but Bucky managed to push the woman out of the chamber before collapsing. A hand clamped itself around Bucky's wrist, stopping him from falling back into the chamber and pulled him up toward the surface.

Steve gasped a little once he saw Bucky's extremely pale and sweaty face.

He wasn't breathing.

Dugan came running around the corner. "We turned it off, sir!" He stopped short at the scene before him.

There were at least a dozen, dirty, thin people laying the grass. Medical personal were attending to them, giving them CPR and oxygen tanks, but there wasn't enough to go around for everybody.

"Get help, Dugan," Steve all but shouted. Dugan nodded and dashed off to get another medical truck.

Steve pulled of Bucky's "mask" and gently slapped his face. "Come on Bucky! Wake up!" He checked for a pulse on both his wrists and neck. It was so faint it was barely there.

Basic instinct took over as Steve began to give CPR to the ghostly pale man. He wasn't about to lose his best friend. Not here. Not now.

Steve decided that regular CPR wasn't enough. He tilted Bucky's head back, pinched his nose, and gave him mouth to mouth.

Still no response.

Steve switched between chest pumps and mouth to mouth. On the fifth turn around, Steve pushed hard on Bucky's chest and leaned down, his mouth barely brushing against Bucky's when the older man gasped and abruptly sat up, hitting heads with Steve. The force caused Steve to sit back on his heels.

Bucky looked Steve wildy. "Did you try to kiss me?" Bucky asked quietly, some of his old humor back.

Steve motioned for Bucky to lay back down. He took off his jacket and placed it under his friend's head as a pillow. "James Buchanan Barnes!" Steve exclaimed. "You pull another stunt like that and I'll-"

"Kill me?" Bucky cut off Steve, sensing a teasing tone in the blonde's voice.

Steve smiled. "You're a hero, Buck," Steve said, this time his tone was more somber. "Many innocent people are alive because of you."

Bucky attempted a laugh, but it turned into a fit of coughing.

"I should have gone down there," Steve muttered. "You almost died."

"You didn't fit, you overgrown punk," Bucky joked.

"Jerk."

Medical assurance arrived and lifted Bucky onto a stretcher. Steve followed from a distance. He glanced back at the hole. If the Nazis had no problem with gassing people to death, there was no telling what their limit was.

That was a terrifying thought that Steve did not want to think about.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Bucky took a sip of water. Gosh, it felt good to actually swallow without a burning sensation in his throat. He set the glass down on the bedside table when he felt the bed dip.

Steve was sitting on the edge of his bed, holding an envelope.

"How are you feeling?" Steve asked.

Bucky shrugged. "I'll live," Bucky replied

"You saved a dozen people and that's your response?" Steve asked.

Bucky shrugged. "How are they?"

"I heard that they should be heading to meet their families and move to somewhere safer."

"That's good " Bucky said. He pointed at the envelope in Steve's hands. "What's that?"

Steve handed it to Bucky, who torn it open and took out a piece of paper. "I wrote a letter to your mother about what happened. That's her response."

Bucky scanned over the paper. It was clearly from his mother, the letter containing mostly large concerns for his well being and how proud she is of her eldest son. "She wrote back pretty fast."

"Well, you've been out for five days," Steve stated.

Bucky looked both confused and startled.

"We're back at base camp," Steve explained.

"Ah. That explains the smell."

"What smell?"

" _The_ smell," Bucky said. "The one that smells like base camp."

Steve delivery sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything." Anything unusual, that is.

"Maybe you're 'superpowers' aren't as amazing as they were thought out to be."

"Maybe you're just smelling yourself," Steve said and lightly punch Bucky in the leg.

"Hey, watch it. I'm fragile," Bucky protested, but nevertheless, smiled.

"I hope you're not too fragile to join me on the next mission at the end of this month," Steve said.

"I'll be fine. I'm not a super-soldier, but I'll manage."

"Don't do anything rash and gallant this time."

Bucky grinned, almost back to his usual, joking self. "I make no promises."

 **The End!**

 **I hope to finish my Avengers Infinity War story soon. I'm really busy during the summer, but I'll try to post as soon as possible. Reviews give me motivation. :)**


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